President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr, is set to face multiple days of grilling from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee over his previous remarks on the Russia investigation, The Hill reports.
The Wall Street Journal reported in December that Barr sent an unsolicited memo to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on June 8, in which he criticized the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“The Senate, starting with the Judiciary Committee, should subject Mr. Barr’s views to the strictest of scrutiny. . . and I still believe, after the revelations about Mr. Barr’s unsolicited memo, President Trump ought to withdraw this nomination,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor after the report was released.
“There’s so many questions to ask him [about] when he volunteered his own opinion about the authority of [special counsel Robert] Mueller—troublesome to me,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois.
“I’m sure he’ll deny any culpability and assure me he’ll be a straight arrow, but I come to it with a degree of skepticism.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said that Barr had been “affable,” and had given them “some” assurances about Mueller’s investigation during a meeting with the panel.
“I don’t take to the bank anything unless it’s in public setting and everybody can hear and it’s on the record,” she added. “The question in my mind is will he leave Mueller alone — that means no interference, no budgetary control.”
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